Jazz at Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers were in midseason form as far as their fighting spirit was concerned in the season opener. The Clippers will try to keep that chip on their shoulder and pick up another win when they host the Utah Jazz in the home opener on Sunday.
Los Angeles refused to be knocked around by the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday and ended up with a 114-106 victory in a game that featured two technical fouls and two flagrant fouls. "It’s the spirit and the energy," Clippers point guard Chris Paul told the Orange County Register of the team's attitude. "...We’ve been through the highs and lows. We’ve been through everything. Enough is enough." The Jazz weren't so lucky in Portland - suffering a 113-104 loss in Tuesday's opener - but picked themselves up with a better defensive effort in a 96-89 home win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. "I think our team was really persistent in how we guarded," Utah coach Quin Snyder told reporters. "I think we got better as the game went on."
TV: 4:30 p.m. ET, ROOT (Utah), Prime Ticket (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE JAZZ (1-1): The big difference on the court between the first two games was the presence of power forward Derrick Favors, who sat out the opener with a knee injury but returned to the lineup on Friday. Favors came off the bench and only played 20 minutes but managed 15 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. The Jazz were forced to use a smaller lineup in the first game and when Favors was off the court on Friday, while veteran swingman Joe Johnson is seeing some time at the power forward spot in three-guard lineups.
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (1-0): One of the knocks on Los Angeles the last several seasons was the lack of production from anyone on the bench aside from Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford. The Clippers seemed to solve that problem for at least one game on Thursday, when newcomer Marreese Speights knocked down a pair of 3-pointers en route to 15 points and each of the five reserves that saw action ended up with a positive plus-minus. Blake Griffin, who had his 2015-16 season marred by injury, looked fully healthy while piling up 27 points, 13 rebounds and three steals.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Jazz PG George Hill is averaging 21 points and 4.5 assists in his first two games with the team.
2. Clippers F Paul Pierce (ankle) sat out the opener and is questionable for Sunday.
3. Los Angeles took two of three in the series last season, though the lone loss came at home 102-91 on Nov. 25.